James wrote “He is Alive!” on the end of our driveway for Easter this year! I wonder if Mary was shouting that all the way to the disciples after Jesus appeared and spoke to her!
John 20:14-18 14 At this, she [Mary Magdalene] turned
around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was
Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are
looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you
have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to
her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in
Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended
to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to
my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary
Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the
Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Mary
was so distraught after Jesus’s crucifixion and it grew worse when she found
the empty tomb! She assumed someone had taken Jesus’s body. Jesus’s appearance,
though, changed everything. He revealed He had risen from the dead in a
glorified, yet bodily form. She could physically touch Him, but she wasn’t to
cling to His earthly presence because He would later ascend back to the right
hand of God. God the Father was His Father and her father! Jesus turned her
grief to gladness.
Where
are you and I experiencing grief, pain or suffering? When will you and I open
our eyes to Jesus and let Him instruct our next steps like He did for Mary?
Jesus’s
future ascension offered Mary hope for her future ascension. Is that same hope
steering your and my daily priorities and perspective?
